Kilometrat

Kilometrat is a nonstandard unit of distance that appears mainly in fiction, worldbuilding, and speculative discussions. It is not part of the International System of Units and has no universally accepted definition. In different works, kilometrat is given a fixed value relative to the meter by the author, allowing the term to stand in for large distances without tying the narrative to a real-world unit.

Etymology and concept: The word combines kilometer with a generic suffix to signal a unit of length rather than a specific measure. Because there is no standard, the size of one kilometrat is defined by the context in which it is used, making it a flexible storytelling or thought-experiment tool rather than a precise technical measure.

Usage and variability: In practice, 1 kilometrat may be defined as anything from a few hundred meters to tens of thousands of kilometers, depending on the story’s scale. Authors use kilometrat to convey geographic or cosmic scale with a familiar-sounding term, while avoiding exact SI values. This drift means that converting kilometrats between works requires the author’s stated equivalence, if provided.

Relation to other units: Kilometrat is not standardized and should not be treated as a real-world unit. It serves as a narrative convenience or conceptual shorthand for distance in speculative contexts.

See also: Kilometer, Megameter, Worldbuilding, Fictional units.